Expert Briefing · Centre for Climate Engagement
Expert briefing explores how digitalisation can strengthen climate risk management
In a Centre for Climate Engagement briefing, Daoping Wang explains how digital technologies can improve climate-risk monitoring, impact forecasting, and evidence-based adaptation.
The Centre for Climate Engagement at Hughes Hall has published an expert briefing with Daoping Wang on the role of digital technologies in understanding and managing climate risk.
The briefing groups digital technologies into four practical functions: collecting and processing data; predicting future conditions and impacts; controlling or automating responses; and visualising information so that people can interact with complex evidence more effectively.
A central message is that monitoring and early-warning systems deserve much wider deployment. In more digitally mature settings, the next step is to move from forecasting a hazard to forecasting its consequences—showing not only that a flood or heatwave may occur, but how it could affect people, infrastructure, businesses, and supply chains. This makes warnings more actionable.
Technology alone is not enough. The briefing calls for public investment in shared data infrastructure, clearer standards and ownership rules, and broader public engagement. Together, these foundations can help digital tools support a more systemic view of climate risk across society, the economy, and the natural environment.